Most women have had a bout of cystitis at some point in their lives. Also called a Urinary Tract Infection, it can be caused by a variety of factors.

Believe it or not, animals can get cystitis too!

Male cats, especially, are prone to cystitis, or UTIs. They won’t come tell you why, but they will give you signs.

An observant owner will usually put the pieces together:

urinating outside the litter box

crying when urinating

small, scanty drops of liquid

frequent trips to the litter box without much to show for it

starting out normal, but almost standing up when finishing

DON’T get mad at your cat if he’s suddenly peeing on the floor. He can’t tell you he doesn’t feel good. He has to show you.

CANTHARIS is a great little remedy to have on hand and it usually works within a day or two. I use the smallest pellets available and sprinkle a few in the offending cat’s wet food, twice a day. You can attempt to put the pills into the cat’s mouth, but I don’t have much luck with that.

Ten days is the norm, but I find it works within 2-3 days. Of course, every feline is different.

If your cat is totally plugged, take him to the Vet immediately. This is a very dangerous condition for male cats, because the urine has crystallized and it cannot pass through the urethra. Cats can die within 4-6 hours of total cessation of urine output. There ARE homeopaths that you can try if you have them on hand, but I highly recommend a Vet visit. I’ll post more information in another post.

UGH. There is nothing worse in this world than a cat with diarrhea. Well, there probably is, truth be told, but….when you have a long-haired cat with the runs that literally clears a room after he uses the litter box, you begin to wonder!

I did a lot of research into what caused diarrhea, what the cures were, what I could do about it without dragging poor Tuffy to the Vet. He’s not really a people cat and I didn’t want to stress him anymore than he already was, but……sometimes you just need to bite the bullet.

My own thoughts drifted from kidney failure (dealing with that for a different cat), fatty liver disease, cancer, IBD, parasites and food allergies. I started keeping a journal of everything he ate, what meds I was giving him (homepaths) and his litter box habits. I stopped giving him chicken and started buying very expensive cat food. He never gained weight, but didn’t lose much more than his 9 pounds. At 9 pounds, he was too thin. When he stopped eating a whole can of food and finishing off the other 3 cats’ bowls, I knew something was wrong. The next morning, he ate very little, but threw that up. Panic mode set in and I called the Vet.

Don’t get me wrong – I think everyone needs a good Veterinarian. I just prefer not subjecting my animals to anymore poking and prodding than necessary. Dr. Howarth at Spencer Springs Animal Hospital in Henderson, NV was wonderful! He checked Tuffy all over, took blood, gave him fluids and gave me a bottle of antibiotics to give Tuff for 10 days. Then we had to take a stool sample back the next day.

The blood tests came back negative, AND the stool sample came back negative. Thank goodness! Dr. Howarth told me that chicken was the #1 food allergen for cats. So, I decided to do a little research on what exactly I was feeding the kids.

Blue Buffalo Wilderness with Red Meat…..has chicken in it. Since when is chicken a red meat???? Don’t get me wrong….I love Blue Buffalo food for my cats….just not with chicken. Buy Blue Buffalo Basics if you want to stick with the brand. It’s chicken-free!

The more I looked, the more I found chicken. Chicken, chicken everywhere! ARRRRRGH! It’s in Temptations treats (Tuffy’s favorite!), it’s in cheap cat food AND expensive cat food. I was getting really depressed at PetsMart yesterday, until I started looking at Fancy Feast. I’ve fed them Fancy Feast for years, but usually mixed it up between the Poultry and the Seafood. And now that the Poultry was out, I needed to do something to keep my cats from all out mutiny. And purchasing ridiculously expensive cat food for 4 cats is out of the question. I don’t make enough money for that!

The 5 Fancy Feast cans below have no chicken in them. Against the Grain and Avoderm Crab & Shrimp also have no chicken. The Simply Nourish Tuna and Salmon both have chicken liver. I’m going to give it a try anyway. I gave the Blue Buffalo dry food away and purchased Simply Nourish Salmon. I’ll probably go back to Blue Buffalo Basics next month.

They say it takes 6-12 weeks for the allergens to leave the body. I’m hoping it takes less time. My Scentsy burners are hoping it takes less time and my husband is hoping it takes less time as well!

You know that Moose has been struggling for a long time with laryngeal paralysis and a host of other ailments. Well, you can probably add kidney problems right along with everything else. For the past several weeks, he’s been very wobbly and continuously fell down when trying to urinate, walk past his sister, or even walk around the living room. Last Friday he couldn’t get up on his own. He looked like death warmed over and I really thought he wouldn’t make it through the night.

Moose is nothing if not a fighter though. I did a lot of research in my 2 favorite homeopathy books – Dr. Pitcairn’s and Homeopathy for Dogs (I also have Homeopathy for Cats) and decided to try a little Plumbum Metallicum. The description on the label says for paleness, BUT….the Homeopathy for Dogs book states: “This remedy may be indicated in those conditions where excessive wasting over the lumbar region is accompanied by a tendency to paraplegia or weakness of the hind quarters. Other signs of incipient paralysis may arise such as difficulty in retaining saliva. Extreme constipation is invariably present.” Moose IS constipated, but hasn’t eaten much over the past few days. However, since giving him the Plumbum Met. twice a day since Friday, he’s eating better. Not great, but better. Also, he has been walking on his own, going outside and coming back without falling over once. He’s still a bit unsteady, BUT….to go from having my husband and I having to lift him up on his unsteady feet, to him getting up on his own truly is a miracle. (And a good homeopathic!)

I also gave him one dose of Mercurius vivus for his uremia. Uremia can cause ulcers in the mouth, bad breath and increased saliva, which contributed to his unwillingness to eat. He’s been smiling all day today, which makes me very happy.

Something else I just started giving him (because I am a little slow sometimes!) is Vetoquinol Epakitin Antioxidant Supplement for Dogs & Cats. I’ve been giving it to Henry for months and it seems to have slowed her kidney digression, so I thought….gee….why not try it on Moosie? I sprinkle it on lunch meat (one of the few things he’s been eating). I am cautiously optimistic.